The present invention relates generally to locking devices for nuts and bolts and more particularly to an improved locking ring cooperative with a castellated nut and a transversely extending aperture disposed in a bolt whereby to maintain the nut securely on the bolt.
It has been previously found that when nut and bolt assemblies are subjected to various vibrating forces and repetitive loadings, that there is a tendency for the nut to loosen and in some instances to disassociate from the bolt. To retard or avert the loosening of a nut, a large number of antiloosening methods and devices have been proposed including lock nuts and washers, cotter pins, tapered split pins, and various fibrous or plastic inserts located within the aperture of a nut, the inserts being adapted to press about and against the bolt threads whereby to frictionally secure the nut in place. Each of the prior methods and devices have been found to be disadvantageous, however, due to either a substantial increase in manufacturing costs or an inherent inability to withstand shock loads applied either directly or indirectly through the structure being connected.
In the U.S. Pat. No. 2,995,167 an alternative to the conventional non-loosening devices was provided in the form of a locking ring which was adapted to be seated about the outer periphery of a castle nut and which included a tongue engageable through opposing castellations thereof and a cooperating aperture disposed in the bolt. The assembly of this locking ring, however, created as assembly problem which necessitated the usage of a specially devised tong. Moreover, a standard castellated nut had to be modified to include a circumferentially extending groove to cooperatively seat an annular shaped section of the locking ring. The locking ring of the present invention is adapted to be assembled in combination with a standard castellated nut without the assistance of any specially devised tool thereby obviating the need of additional machining of the nut and the acquisition of special assembly tools. It, therefore, is a general object of the present invention to devise a locking ring of the above described character for a castellated nut which is easily assembled without the use of specially devised tools.
In another aspect of the present invention an end portion of the tongue is biased against and overlies an annular shaped section disposed about the outer peripheral surface of the castellated formation of the nut. When the locking ring is fully assembled, the compressive cooperation between the tongue and annulus lockingly retains the ring relative to the nut and precludes an inadvertent removal thereof. It, therefore, is another object of the present invention to provide a locking ring for a castellated nut having a self-retaining feature which inherently precludes inadvertent disassociation thereof.
In another form of the subject invention the tongue portion of the locking ring includes a generally curvilinear portion which is adapted to interferingly cooperate with the inner wall of the aperture formed in the bolt whereby to augment the locking retention provided by the compressive engagement between an end of the tongue and the annulus. Moreover, an end portion of the annulus can be folded inwardly to engage one of the castellations to further resist the application of imposed forces acting on the assembly. It, therefore, is a further object of the present invention to provide a locking ring of the above described character which due to its configuration is adapted to be securely and fixedly connected to a nut and bolt assembly.
The locking ring of the present invention is adapted to be utilized with a standard castle nut and a conventional standard drilled bolt. No additional machining of either the nut or bolt is required and the design of the locking ring facilitates manufacturing the components by mass production techniques. Hence, the locking rings can be inexpensively produced and attractively marketed. It is, therefore, still another object of the present invention to provide a locking ring of the above character which can be mass produced and competitively marketed.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.